Apr 23 2015
GE Unit, GE Energy Financial Services has formed a new partnership with Tokyo-based renewable energy project developer, Green Power Investment Corp., to invest in a 42-megawatt (DC) photovoltaic solar power project in Futtsu City, Japan. GE Energy Financial Services will invest alongside GPI in the project.
The 42-MW solar PV plant under construction in Futtsu City, Japan.
In addition to the investment from GPI and GE Energy Financial Services, financing from a syndicate of four banks, led by The Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. will be utilized for the project. Additional financial details are not disclosed.
Located in Japan’s prefecture of Chiba, the Futtsu solar plant is currently under construction and is expected to reach commercial operations in January 2016. It will sell its power via a 20-year power purchase agreement with Japan’s largest utility, Tokyo Electric Power Company Inc., under the Japanese feed-in tariff regime. Once complete, the project will generate approximately ¥50 million in annual local tax revenues for Futtsu City and Chiba Prefecture.
The project’s photovoltaic solar panels are being supplied by Kyocera Solar Corporation, a Japanese subsidiary of Kyoto-based Kyocera Corporation. GPI is managing construction and operations, and Kyocera Communication Systems Co. will provide ongoing operations and maintenance services.
GE Energy Financial Services has made equity and debt investment commitments of $1.9 billion in nearly two gigawatts of solar power projects worldwide, and plans to continue to invest over $1 billion annually in renewable energy projects. Futtsu City is the business unit’s third solar investment in Japan this year and its sixth since it began investing in the country’s renewable energy market in 2014. This year, the GE unit invested in Pacifico Energy’s 96.2-megwatt PV solar project in Hosoe and also invested an incremental 7.5 percent equity interest in Japan’s largest solar project, which is under construction in Setouchi City.
Sushil Verma, a managing director and head of Asia Pacific at GE Energy Financial Services said, “The Futtsu project supports our renewable energy and international growth objectives through the formation of a new relationship with GPI and expansion of our network to additional partners in the country.”
Toshio Hori, President of GPI added, “We are very pleased to see this project, our first post-Fukushima project and one of the largest in the Kanto area, come to fruition. We look forward to further contributing to Japan’s energy independence with continued expansion of our organization and execution on our pipeline of wind and solar projects in Japan.”